CHICAGO: With many major US retailers opening their doors to shoppers at 5 a.m. on Friday, early risers ventured out in chilly weather to buy Christmas gifts, finding stores less crowded than in years past.
The shift to online shopping, lingering COVID fears and less-steep discounts have thinned crowds on Black Friday the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday which kicks off the year-end shopping season. Many shoppers are also choosing curbside pickup rather than venturing inside.
“What a lot of customers are doing is drive-up - they don’t even enter the store. I think that’s one of the reasons it looks quiet,” Ian Korolenko, 29, a Hoover vacuum salesperson asked by Target to help out on Black Friday.
“But I also think a lot of these stores do their Black Friday deals earlier in the week now, and a lot of them go online now.”
Francisco Martinez, 22, a delivery driver, was one of over 100 people standing outside a Walmart Supercenter in the Kilbourn Park neighborhood of Chicago before 5 a.m. in 20 degree Fahrenheit (-7 degree Celsius) weather.
“I want to get a 65-inch Element TV - it’s $350 off,” said Martinez, who was wearing three layers of clothing. “I think I’m going to get it - it’s not as crowded as it used to be a few years ago.”
While people queued, a Walmart worker handed out coupons for items like Apple AirPods and watches and Gateway laptops. Daniella Rangel, 19, came into work at 2 a.m. to restock and prepare for the morning rush.
As online shopping has taken off, Black Friday crowds have dwindled, particularly in 2020 when people were still unvaccinated and worried about COVID-19.
Some shoppers worry an ongoing supply chain logjam might prevent retailers from stocking sought-after items such as Hoverboard scooters, Nerf toys, Oculus Quest 2 headsets, AirPods Pro earbuds, and MacBook Air laptops.
Walmart, Best Buy and Target this year did not require shoppers who have been vaccinated to wear masks, but some indoor malls kept existing mask requirements. “People are looking to get back to normal,” said Rod Sides, Deloitte’s U.S. retail leader. “The early online birds, and the birds that went into the store, may get the worm.”
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